As they do their utmost to shift the debate on BBC pay not to the gargantuan overspend on both stars and ordinary common or garden autocue readers but to the "gender pay gap", the liberal media luvvies also spin the line that at least the BBC should be praised for its transparency. This is contrasted with we evil capitalists in the private sector who are deemed opaque. It is all so pathetic.
The BBC did not want to be transparent. This "truth" was dragged out of it by the evil Tories. It fought even this limited disclosure all the way. Even now it is still not being open. We are only told what the BBC pays stars. Folks like Graham Norton receive vast payments from production companies paid by the BBC for piffle that appears starring Graham. Those payments which are widespread are not disclosed. So the data we have is, at best, partial.
Moreover we are not told what percentage of certain presenters time is BBC allocated. So while Claire Balding (part of a minority that is still demanding special treatment despite beings grossly over-represented in the top pay list, that is to say the LGBT community) bleats about her BBC pay, what we do not know is how much she is, for instance, earning fronting up the women's European footie championships for C4. Her questioning of very lucid and knowledgeable women such as Eni Aluko, shows Clare does not know much about footie so why she not Eni got the gig anyway is baffling. But the point is that it is a valuable top up on BBC earnings which must, by definition, be part time.
And it is clear that five years after saying it was ending the system whereby staff were paid via companies in order to minimise the tax they paid, the BBC is still doing this. So much for transparency!
What the defenders of the BBC forget as they attack we wicked capitalists is that there is a big difference. In the private sector, directors full earnings, bonuses, pensions and other perks are disclosed and have been fully disclosed for years via the annual report filed at Company's House. However those directors are paid whether it is direct or via service companies that is all declared. Directors are invariably the top earners and moreover those directors are quizzed by the owners at an AGM once a year in full public view.
The owners of the BBC are all of us as, we the taxpayer fund it in its entirety. It should thus be subject to our full scrutiny. But the BBC, is even today, doing all it can to avoid scrutiny. As it is funded with public money it should be subject to far more scrutiny than the wicked capitalists. It is not.